Superfly report to IUCN Special Initiatives Grant

INTERNATIONAL UNION FOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

1 Superfly 12 month Report

The International Union for the Conservation of Nature provided Superfly, Ltd. with a US$10,000 grant to create an enabling environment for bicycling in Solomon Islands rural areas. This is the 12-month completion report under this grant with updated 12-month sales figures and a final summary of the impact of te grant and the current state of cycling in the Solomon Islands.

Cycling is a much needed land transport solution in rural areas. However, availability of bicycles is low, despite plenty of sealed roads and high quality gravel roads that exist throughout the country. Bicycles represent a fantastic transport solution for rural Solomon Islands people to save time, money, and both improve and maintain their fitness. Better transport means improved access to markets, employment opportunities, and services.

Improving access to cycling in rural areas was the motivation and focus behind the grant. During the past six (6) months, Superfly was able to train five (5) rural bicycle mechanics from; Lata (Temotu Province), Kirakira (Makira Province), Ulawa Island (Makira Province), Hulavu (Guadalcanal Province) and Malu’u (Malaita Province). The mechanics each partook in a 5-day training course, during which they learned/brushed up on fundamental bicycle repair skills. All of the participants were of medium-to-advanced skill level and were enthusiastic participants. The list below shows the tasks that were covered during the training course:

• Puncture and valve repair

• Straighten derailleur hanger and tune gears

• Adjust/tighten brakes

• Lubricate brake and gear cables

• True wheels

• Remove and repair chains

• Check tightness of all bolts and screws

• Degrease and lubrication of drivetrain

• Regrease bottom bracket

• Provide training in basic inventory control

It was originally envisaged that bicycle shops would remit monies back to Superfly and re-order via mobile banking. However, access to this telecommunications service is difficult and it was found users preferred to come back to Honiara which provided them an opportunity to choose their new stock and a chance to pay in cash.

The trainings had to fit in around the shop’s operating periods, which was difficult to manage during peak Christmas period. The shop was also closed for most of the month of January, which took some momentum away from the grant. As such, two of the trainings took place in November, with the remaining trainings being completed in April and May, 2016.

Introduction

Figure 1: Don Conning (Hulavu, Guadalcanal Province Operator) Figure 2: Harvey Kuper (Kira Kira, Makira Province Operator)

Superfly 12 month Report 2

The table below show the sales figures and estimated revenue1 resulting from the sale of bicycles, parts and servicing from each of the mechanics. These figures were reported during June 2016.

Table 1: Sales figures to 30th June 2016

The table below shows the final full year sales figures for the 5 enterprises.

Table 2: Cumulative sales figures to the end of December 2016

Sales Figures

Full Name Address/Village Date of TrainingBicycle Sales to

Date

Revenue from Bicycle

Sales TD (SBD)

Estimated Revenue From

Bicycle Servicing & Sale of Parts

(SBD)

John Nupani Lata, Temotu Province 2/11/2016 12 17,160 3,000

Harvey Kuper Kira kira, Makira Province 16/11/2016 5 7,150 3,000

Pastor John Mala Ulawa Island 4/04/2016 37 52,910 6,000

Don Conning Hulavu, Guadalcanal 19/05/2016 5 7,150 500

Junior Dani Malu’u, Malaita 26/05/2016 5 7150 500

SUBTOTAL 64 91,520 13,000

TOTALNominal Exchange Rate

SBD7.66 : USD1.00SBD104,520 (USD13,644.91)

Full Name Address/Village Date of TrainingTotal Bicycle

Sales to 31/12/2016

Revenue from Bicycle Sales to

31/12/2016

Estimated Revenue From

Bicycle Servicing & Sale of Parts to

31/12/2016

John Nupani Lata, Temotu Prov-ince 2/11/2016 35 49000 9500

Harvey Kuper Kira kira, Makira Province 16/11/2016 11 15400 5500

Pastor John Mala Ulawa Island 4/04/2016 45 54000 14000

Don Conning Hulavu, Guadalcanal 19/05/2016 8 11200 1500

Junior Dani Malu’u, Malaita 26/05/2016 35 49000 18500

SUBTOTAL 134 178,600 49,000

TOTALNominal Exchange Rate

SBD7.66 : USD1.00SBD227,600 (USD29,712.79)

1 Revenue estimates are derived based on recommended pricing provided to the participants. It is known though, that some of the bicycle proprietors are bartering bicycles for goods and services, though this has occurred at a favourable enough rate to encourage re-purchase (particularly in the case of Pastor John from Ulawa)

3 Superfly 12 month Report

Outcomes and DiscussionSuperfly is extremely enthused with the outcomes of this grant allocation, and is buoyed by the increase in reach to the rural communities of the Solomon Islands this initiative has delivered. The initiative has directly lead to an additional 134 bicycles being sold in rural areas (from Superfly-trained mechanics), with an additional 60 bicycles from the Honiara shop being sold in those same communities to other interested parties. In addition, Superfly has continued its ‘bulk rural sale model,’ and has sold well over 100 bicycles into East Guadalcanal; through two large bulk sales to the Member of Parliament for East Guadalcanal (the Hon. Sam Maneka) accounting for 85 bicycles, and through regular bulk sales to a local company, Sustainable Resources Management, whose labour staff work only 15 kilometres east of Honiara (which means that they can come to the shop themselves for servicing and spare parts)

Another heart-warming success story came from a regular customer, Malcolms Andy; an electrician working in Honiara (originally from Isabel province) who teamed with his uncle (a prominent lawyer in Honiara) to send 20 bicycles (mainly BMX) to his village in Isabel province. Malcolm’s contact in the village hires the bicycles to children for 5 dollars an hour or 30 dollars a day as a way to provide exercise and recreation for kids there.

Another noteworthy benefit of the grant was through training and support offered to James Kana, who has attempted to set up a rural bicycle enterprise in Munda. James purchased and sold 20 bicycles into his local community to give the community access to bicycles. However, his bicycle sale business has suffered due to the influx of free bikes provided by Childers Rotary group from Queensland. The Childers Rotary2 group donated over 150 bicycles into Munda, which has affected the willingness of people in Munda to pay. However, many of those bicycles are in disrepair and require servicing, which has provided strong motivation for James to develop mechanic training at the site. James has purchased a small amount of parts to support the shop, but he has delayed further effort in building the shop (and buying bicycle stock) because he wants to build an eco-tourism based guest-house in Munda.

A lot of these sales were inspired by IUCN’s involvement, as it prompted Superfly to consider setting up a distributor network beyond Honiara.

Figure 3: James Kana, Munda cycle order

2http://www.news-mail.com.au/news/bikes-solomans/2685943/

Superfly 12 month Report 4

The initial aim of the grant was to lead to the sale of 2,000 bicycles in the Solomon Islands by the end of 2017. To date, since December 2014, Superfly has imported six (6) containers, at an average of 250 bicycles per container, or approximately 1,500 bicycles. Superfly will be looking to place an order for its 7th container of bicycles in February/March 2017.

The target of 2,000 bicycles by the end of 2017 seems very likely, and it is possible these figures have already been surpassed, as there have been a number of recent ‘copy-cat’ entrepreneurs who have imported used bicycles from Japan to emulate Superfly’s bicycle business. These businesses are home-based; one of which is located at Henderson (near the Honiara airport) and the other is in Koloale (about 2km from the Honiara CBD). Each of these businesses does not carry the payroll and rent overhead of Superfly, and are also selling their bicycles in an ‘as is, where is’ condition; whereas Superfly often fixes parts, replaces broken parts, and gives the bicycles an overall tune-up before selling, with a 3-month warranty included.

The challenge of increased competition has seen a reduction in the sales rate of bicycles at the shop, and in increased focus on repairs and the sale of parts. However, overall, it will lead to a greater uptake of cycling, and potentially, more demand for a service industry to support cyclists (which Superfly and its trained mechanics are now well positioned to provide).Increased competition and a greater number of cyclists on the road are signs that awareness and uptake of cycling in the Solomon Islands has increased– another aspect of which IUCN can be proud.

One key purpose of the IUCN Oceania Regional Office Energy Programme is promoting the connection between energy independence for the region and the opportunity to further conservation outcomes and prevent environmental degradation. One of the largest threats to biodiversity and the fidelity of ecosystems throughout the Pacific Island Countries is a reliance on imported fossil fuels for energy services in both the transport and electrification sectors.

The EESLI Special Initiatives grant to Superfly, Ltd. served as one of the range of small seed funding projects to help encourage a shift in perspectives, consumer habits, and market opportunities within the region. So as a measure of impact, it’s useful to estimate the fuel, time, and cost savings associated with mode-shifting toward bicycle use. To this end, estimates can easily be made as to the amount of travel time saved by cycling over pedestrian travel; with marginal increases in caloric input at a fixed body size of 65kg in weight & 170cm in height, calculations show 944kilojoules are required to walk 5km per hour, in comparison to 1108kilojoules consumed to cycle 15km in an hour3, showing a 300% increase in distance travelled relative to a 17.4% increase in energy consumed.

Since this energy is a caloric requirement, it is important to note that while cycling is the most efficient form of land transport, there are still carbon dioxide emissions associated with food production required for caloric input to fuel non-motorized movement. Calculations by the European Cycling Federation show bicycles emit an average of 21g of C02/km when factoring in both the manufacturing and maintenance of the bicycle as well as food used to fuel its operation4.

It is worth noting the emissions associated with production are diminished by the extended lifespan of the vehicles through the Solomon Islands being a second-hand market. However, sea freight to deliver the bicycles from Tokyo provides an additional source of emissions. The 134 bicycles distributed over the course of 2016 were delivered in a single container, so the freight distance was estimated to equate to 800kg of C02 emissions. For additional details, refer to Table 3 on page 55 . Assuming approximate 3,000k per vehicle, as per the average weight of a Toyota Hi Hi-Lux6 (the most common vehicle in Solomon Islands ) with an occupancy of five passengers, to provide land transport for 134 people, the sea freight emissions for the 27 required vehicles would total 3,030kg of CO2 emissions (see Table 4 on page 5).

The listed fuel emissions average 208g CO2/km per Hi-Lux, so assuming full occupancy of each Hi-Lux, the combined emissions of five bicycles equate to 105g CO2/km, so a conservative estimate of overall savings involve 2,030kg C02 in freight and 103g C02/km of operation. Assuming 15km commutes (30km round trip), five days a week, 50 weeks a year, 134 cyclists commuting by bicycle instead of automobile would save another 772.5kg C02 in emissions, totalling 2,802.5kg in CO2 emissions mitigated through the project in 2016.

Conservation Outcomes

3http://www.mapmyride.com/improve/calorie_calculator/ 4https://ecf.com/sites/ecf.com/files/ECF_CO2_WEB.pdf 5http://www.ecotransit.org/calculation.en.html 6http://media.toyota.co.uk/.../1351767083TOYOTAHILUXTECHNICALSPECIFICATION.pdf

5 Superfly 12 month Report

Table 3: Figure Single Container shipping emissions (Tokyo, Japan to Honiara, Solomon Islands)

Table 4: 81 tonne bulk shipping emissions (Tokyo, Japan to Honiara, Solomon Islands)

Superfly 12 month Report 6

One of the key components that made the delivery of this grant possible is Superfly’s staff. Superfly has terrific, passionate and knowledgeable staff that energetically relayed their skills and technical know-how during the trainings. Having the trainees work and learn in the shop showed them the level of public interest in bicycles and allowed the Superfly employees to educate the trainees through observation and learning.

IUCN’s Special Initiatives grant allowed Superfly the ability to divert time to pursue a new growth opportunity. It has had a beneficial effect on the business and on the nurturing of the bicycle industry in the Solomon Islands. Superfly hopes to work together with IUCN in the future for other cycling and energy-related projects to assist rural people in Solomon Islands with sustainable development and resource conservation.

Figure 4: John Nupani (Lata, Temotu Province Operator) Figure 5: Junior Dani (Malu’u, Malaita Province Operator)

Superfly Staff Conclusion

INTERNATIONAL UNIONFOR CONSERVATION OF NATURE

OCEANIA REGIONAL OFFICE5 Ma’afu StreetPrivate Mail BagSuva, Republic of the Fiji Islandsoceania@iucn.orgTel +679 3319 084Fax +679 3100 128www.iucn.org/oceania